


Ninth Grade Sucks

by MrRigger



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Happy Ending, Pining, Riley is an idiot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 04:24:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6104817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrRigger/pseuds/MrRigger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riley can't stand that Maya has abandoned her for a new best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ninth Grade Sucks

**Author's Note:**

> This was just supposed to be strictly from Riley's POV, only her reactions, no dialogue, but what can I say, Riley and Maya love to talk. I can't help it. Not as happy with this one as I am my other stories, but maybe I'm being too harsh. Comment and enjoy.

Ninth grade sucked.

The first week wasn’t too bad, but apparently that was the peak, because everything went downhill after that.

Everyone’s schedule was different, but Riley was sure she was going to be able to make it work anyways, because at least one of her friends was in all of her classes, but she was wrong. One of her friends in every class wasn’t Maya in every class, and Riley had never thought about that difference.

Farkle was with her in all of her honors classes, and she loved Farkle, but at the end of the day, Farkle wasn’t Maya. Lucas wasn’t Maya either. And she missed Maya.

The only class Riley had with Maya was History, which made it the high point of her day, even if her father was the teacher again. Somehow. Riley still wasn’t clear on the specifics.

When she was in History class, Riley could pretend like nothing had changed. She could pretend Maya still told her everything, even though she didn’t have to, because they did everything together.

But then the bell rang, and History class was over, and Riley couldn’t pretend anymore. She hated that bell.

The most terrible part of high school was the end result of all the other problems combining together into some kind of super-ultra-mega problem.

Maya had found a new best friend.

Her name was Trish.

Riley hated that name.

Trish was the name parents gave to their kids when they knew from the start that they would grow up to be horrible, friend-stealing, monsters. Or so Riley assumed.

Trish had invaded every free moment that was usually Riley-and-Maya time, and Riley had a hard time not ripping her hair out whenever she saw the two of them walking down the hall together.

But she couldn’t, because Maya asked her to like Trish. Said it was really important that Riley liked Trish. And it was Maya. What was she supposed to do?

So Riley grit her teeth, plastered on a smile, and did her best to keep her feelings to herself, even when Maya got her hopes up by saying she had a hot date, and Riley caught her hanging out with Trish down at Topanga’s.

The worst part was that Trish was actually a really nice person. She was in Maya’s advanced art class, and definitely deserved to be there. Riley could even admit to herself that Trish was almost as good an artist as Maya. Almost.

And she was funny, and pretty, and had really good taste in music, and Riley hated her for it.

Farkle and Lucas tried to change her mind, tried to convince her that Trish wasn't that bad, and by the end of the conversation, she was usually willing to give Trish a shot, but then she saw her hug Maya by her locker, and she was back to hating Trish.

That was supposed to be her mid-morning hug, not Trish’s.

And Riley could deal with Trish if she had just supplanted Riley at school, but no, Maya kept spending time with her outside of school, too. She was blowing off regular Riley-and-Maya time so she could do things with Trish, and Maya didn't even seem to notice there was anything wrong.

Farkle said that Maya was finding herself, and Riley should just be patient.

Lucas said that when friends were as close as Maya and Riley, nothing could come between them for long.

Maya said… well, Maya said a lot about Trish. Trish was her favorite topic to talk about on their morning walk to school, her preferred topic in History when they weren’t actually discussing the lesson, and her go-to for Bay Window Time. Maya always talked her up, mentioning all the cool things Trish did the night before, or the new band Trish introduced her to, or the cure for cancer Trish just invented, because she was so freaking wonderful.

Riley ignored Maya on the grounds that she had gone temporarily insane, and tried to take Farkle and Lucas’s advice to heart. She could be patient. Maya would come to her senses sooner or later. Riley just needed something to distract her until Maya came back to her.

So she tried dating.

Dating was hard when her favorite sounding board was never around, but Riley was determined. And people had been dating forever. She could do it by herself. She didn't need Maya for this.

Lucas was the obvious choice for her plunge into the solo dating pool, and Riley almost asked him more than once, but always decided against it. There was a lot of history there, and not just between her and Lucas. He had tried dating Maya over the previous summer, but it hadn't worked out. Dating Lucas might distract her, but Maya wouldn't come back the way Riley wanted if she did.

So Riley looked elsewhere. Charlie was willing to give her another shot, but there still wasn't anything there. It was a shame, Charlie really was a good guy.

Wyatt, Nate, and Dave didn't last past the first date, and Jeffery couldn't make it to a third, at which point Riley started wondering if it was something wrong with her. It was the kind of thing she would have asked Maya about, but she wasn't able to find the words that would fit in their morning subway ride.

Then she tried dating Zay, and it seemed like she finally found someone who fit. Riley was comfortable around him, they had fun together, and if all their dates felt more like two friends hanging out than anything romantic, that was okay, right? Boyfriend and girlfriend were still friends. Her mom and dad always said they were friends before they got together, and stayed friends after they started dating. It was just a matter of time.

But Riley kept dating Zay, and it stayed the same. It was nice, they both had fun, and it never changed like it was supposed to. They hung out, they studied together, they watched movies, they went for coffee, just like they were supposed to, and it never changed!

Riley didn’t know what to do. She’d done everything she was supposed to, and nothing had worked. And she wasn’t the only one who had seen it. Zay had too.

0oOo0

“Riley, I think we should break up.”

“What?”

“Yeah, maybe not the best way to say that. Um, I think we’re better off friends, and as much as I like you, I’ve never gotten the sense that you like me that way.”

“Zay, what are you talking about? I like you plenty.”

“Yeah, but you don’t like me like you like a boyfriend. Was that too many likes? Nevermind. I’m just saying, I never really noticed a difference between us dating and us just hanging out before we were dating. And, well, if there’s no difference, maybe we’re better off finding people where there is a difference.”

Riley wanted to argue with him, and she did, loudly and at length, but in the end, he wasn’t wrong. She didn’t really like him that way. It didn’t feel like everyone said a relationship should feel like. That didn’t make it hurt less.

She left Topanga’s with a full head of steam and nowhere to go, but the break-up and four hot chocolates with extra marshmallows were obviously direction enough for her feet, because before long, Riley found herself outside Maya’s apartment building.

Riley remembered that Maya said she was had a study date with Trish that afternoon, and she told herself that she wouldn’t interrupt. It wouldn’t be right to crash Maya’s time with her new best friend. But her body was obviously listening to somebody else, since the next thing she knew, Riley was knocking on Maya’s window.

Maya and Trish were sitting at the foot of Maya’s bed, snuggled under a blanket, books open on the floor beside them, but it didn’t look like they were doing much studying to Riley. Maya twisted around and waved her in. Riley clambered in through the window and collapsed face first on the bed.

“So, Riley, whatcha doin’?” Maya asked, like she didn’t know what was going on. Of course she didn’t know what was going on. Riley hadn’t told her.

“Ring power,” Riley mumbled, her voice muffled by the comforter.

“Ring power?”

“Ring power!” Riley declared, rolling over just enough to thrust the aforementioned ring high in the sky. “I invoke ring power.”

Maya looked at Trish and sighed. “Sorry babe, it’s ring power. Gonna have to cut this short.”

Riley’s heart soared and sank at the same time. It was an awful feeling. “No, you don’t have to go, Trish, I don’t want to interrupt whatever you’re doing. I’m sorry.”

Maya stood up and helped Trish to her feet, who gave Riley a tight smile. “Don’t worry about it, Riley. You seem like you need some time alone with your best friend, and I don’t want to get in the way of that.” Trish gathered her books and gave Maya a hug. “Call me later.”

Maya glanced at the still face-down Riley. “Maybe. If not, I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

Then Trish was gone, and the world seemed better. It was just Riley and Maya again. With the door closed, she could pretend they were the only two people in the world. At least for a little while.

Riley felt the bed bounce as Maya flopped down beside her. “Alright, let’s see here. It must be something big, or you would have waited until tomorrow morning. And it must have been something shocking, or you would have called me, instead of walking over here in a daze. So, and don’t tell me, I wanna guess… I’m gonna go with Zay told you he loved you.”

“No,” Riley said miserably.

“Lucas confessed his feelings for you and now you have to chose between him and Zay?”

“Uh-uh.”

“Red Planet Diaries was cancelled?”

“No, and why would you even think that? Have you heard something?”

“I haven't heard anything, it was just the only other thing I could think of. If it’s not that, what happened?”

“Zay broke up with me.”

“Huh. I always thought he was a nice guy, it’s a shame I’m gonna have to kill him now.”

Riley grabbed Maya’s arm before she made it off the bed. “Don’t kill him.”

“Okay, I won’t kill him, but I need to maim him at least.” Maya tried to stand up again, but Riley pulled her back down.

“Don't maim him either.”

Maya sighed. “Ugh. I can't kill him, I can't maim him, what good am I to you?”

“Tell me there's nothing wrong with me.”

“What? Did he say that? Riley, look at me.”

Riley rolled over and narrowly avoided whacking Maya in the face. She didn't even flinch.

“Riley, there is nothing wrong with you.” Maya looked so serious and earnest Riley couldn't help but think that maybe she was right. “Did Zay say there was something wrong with you? Because if he did, I really will kill him.”

“Leave Zay alone, he didn't say anything. He just thinks we're better off being friends instead of trying to date.”

Maya rolled her eyes. “He gave you the let's be friends line? Jackass.”

“No, hey, listen, it's not Zay’s fault,” Riley explained. “This was all on me.”

“Fine. I'm still on your side all the way, but tell me what happened. Was he trying to get you to do something you didn't want to do? Cause if he was, it's not your fault.”

“No, nothing happened, and that was kinda the problem. Nothing was happening. He didn't think we were anything more than friends, and I can't say he was wrong. I don't like him as more than a friend.”

“And you think that means something’s wrong with you? Honey, it just means he wasn't the right one for you.”

“But it wasn't just him,” Riley protested. “I haven't liked anybody I've dated like that. I think the only reason I lasted as long as I did with Zay was that we were already friends.”

“Then none of them were the right guy. Or maybe you just don't like guys that way.”

“What do you mean?” Oh god, she knew there was something wrong with her.

“What do you mean what do I mean? I'm just saying maybe you don't like boys like that. Maybe you like girls instead.”

Riley was confused. “Is that a thing?”

“Is that a - Riley, what do you think I'm doing with Trish?”

Riley suddenly felt very small. She knew the truth, but she never imagined Maya would make her say it out loud. But she'd come this far, she couldn't stop now.

“You're hanging out with her because she's your new best friend,” Riley mumbled. 

Maya stared at her dumbly, and Riley rolled back over to put her face in the bed. Finally, Maya spoke up.

“You think Trish is my new best friend?”

Riley began to get the sense she had missed something. “Yes?”

Maya sighed. “Riley, sweetie, honey, pumpkin, you are my best friend. Nothing is ever going to change that.”

Riley looked up and smiled weakly. “Really?”

Maya nodded. “Really. Nothing, not even being the most oblivious person I’ve ever met. Cause, honey, and this comes from a place of love, you’re about six kinds of stupid.”

It was hardly the first time Maya had called her six kinds of stupid, and probably wouldn’t be the last, but Riley still felt like she’d been slapped with a fish. “Huh?”

“Sweetie, Trish isn’t my new best friend. She’s my girlfriend. We’ve been dating since, like, the second week of school. Did you seriously not realize what was going on?”

Riley grimaced in embarrassment. She’d been so busy jumping to the worst possible scenario of Maya abandoning her, she’d never entertained other options. “I guess not?”

Maya laughed out loud, then tried to stifle it. She wasn’t very successful. “Okay, I’m not laughing at you to be mean, but you know this is pretty much all on you, right? We weren’t hiding it.”

“Could it maybe not all be on me? I never really considered two girls could do that together.”

“I literally told you I had a hot date with Trish at one point.”

“I thought it was just something you were saying, or you were exaggerating, not that you actually had a date with her.”

Maya shook her head ruefully. “Alright, I’m going to stop for now, since Zay just broke up with you, and I know I should be supportive. Plus, I know you’re going to be beating yourself up over this whole thing until the next crisis, at least. So, you want ice cream? I think mom left some New York Super Fudge Chunk in the freezer.”

0oOo0

Riley did beat herself up, past the next crisis, and the one after that too. She couldn’t believe she’d missed something so big in Maya’s life. She’d been so caught up in the idea that Maya was drifting away that she never realized how poor a friend she was being.

She tried to make it up to Maya, though. Since she was single once more, she had plenty of free time to be the friend she should have been. Movie nights, bay window time, subway people watching, it was all back, just with the occasional inclusion of Trish.

Now that she knew Trish wasn't trying to replace her, Riley put in more of an effort to get to know her. She still wasn’t completely comfortable around Trish, but it was for Maya, so Riley did her best.

Trish joined them for bay window time, but she never seemed to get it. Riley was pretty sure the only reason she kept coming back was to spend time with Maya, but she couldn’t exactly fault her for that. Subway people watching was a lot better, since Trish had a blast making up stories about the people that passed them by.

Movie nights, on the other hand, were rather awkward. Riley had snuggled up with Maya when they watched movies together for years, but now, that was forbidden, at least when Trish was there. Instead of curling up with Maya, Riley had to sit on the other end of the couch, cold and alone. Not having Maya’s familiar body weight and warmth pressed against her side made watching movies a practice in slow mental torture, especially since Maya was just a few feet away, with someone else in her spot.

Spending so much time with Maya and Trish did give Riley some things to think about. Was Maya right? Could she like girls like that? She’d liked Lucas since the first time she saw him, and she’d be lying if she claimed she hadn’t considered what a relationship with Farkle would be like. And Riley had certainly been able to appreciate the view whenever she watched Lucas and Zay play shirts versus skins basketball with their friends. So she definitely liked boys.

But at the same time, Riley had never liked a boy that way before, other than Lucas, and even after years of exploring, they still weren’t clear on their feelings for each other. Maybe they never would be. Maybe that was a sign that boys weren’t right for her.

So she looked at girls.

Well, she’d been looking at girls all her life, but now she was looking at girls and really thinking about them. As it turned out, Riley liked thinking about them, and realized that maybe she’d been thinking about girls for longer than she’d realized.

At first, Riley tried to figure it out on her own. Some searching around on the internet let Riley admit to herself that she appreciated the female form on a more than academic level, though she couldn’t find the words to say it out loud when her mom caught her scrolling through pictures of girls in bikinis.

But she ended up with a promise that they would take a family trip to the beach over the summer, so that conversation wasn’t totally terrible and awkward.

Then Riley started looking at the girls at school, which was nearly a disaster. Staring at girls like she used to stare at Lucas never seemed to end well. Sometimes the girl in question got upset, sometimes they got angry, sometimes they thought Riley was looking for a fight, and almost always, the teacher gave her a lecture about paying attention in class.

The less said about the time she got caught staring at other girls in the locker room after gym the better. Riley just wanted to forget that debacle ever happened, but Maya would never let her.

After that, Riley finally decided she needed outside help. Since she didn’t exactly have a huge pool of options, that meant asking Maya and Trish.

Trish claimed she’d always known, ever since she was a little girl. She'd never even considered boys as an option. That kind of certainty was interesting, but spectacularly unhelpful. Riley had never considered girls as an option, but now that was out the window and she wasn't entirely sure what to think.

Maya’s experience was way more helpful. Trish asked her out as friends a few times, told Maya her intentions, then gave Maya some time to figure out if she wanted to go forward. Even after she said yes, she still wasn't sure, but now that she'd been dating Trish for a few months, Maya was confident about her feelings.

So Riley just needed time, and maybe someone to help her figure out how she felt. Easier said than done.

Dating was hard enough in the ninth grade, dating when you were figuring out your sexuality was next to impossible. It made her wish she could have what Maya and Trish had.

Trish made it sound so easy. Ask a girl out as a friend, feel her out, get to know her, then present her with the option of making it something more. But Riley just couldn't seem to do it, no matter how many times she tried.

Making friends was easy. Riley had been a friend-maker all her life. If she had one special skill, it was to make friends with a total stranger in thirty seconds flat.

The problem came from trying to take it to the next step. One girl spent the whole time talking about the crush she had on the boy next door, another mentioned her boyfriend every other sentence, a third made such nasty comments when Riley tried to broach the topic that she vowed never to talk to her again. Her most successful attempts were a girl who said she was flattered, but wasn't interested, and one who actually was interested, but already had a girlfriend.

Trish tried to help by setting Riley up with some of her friends, but Riley got the sense that she just wanted to make sure Riley wasn't going to steal Maya back for herself.

And honestly, that was just ridiculous. Riley loved Maya, but that didn't mean she wanted to take Trish’s place. Even if Maya was the best girl Riley had ever met, and was totally beautiful, and the thought of her occasionally woke Riley up with messy sheets and a desperate need for a cold shower, that didn't mean anything.

After yet another blind date where she was informed that they would be better off friends, Riley finally found the words to tell her parents. They were supportive and understanding and still so perfect they made her wonder how she'd ever live up to their example, but in that moment, Riley just enjoyed it.

Lucas was a little uncomfortable at first when she told him, but Farkle’s reaction was perfect and Riley remembered her promise to never settle for anybody who wasn't at least as good as him.

Maybe that was her problem. Maybe she'd been so caught up in trying to find someone that she forgot she was supposed to find the right one. Besides, she'd only started dating to fill the Maya shaped hole in her life, and she had her Maya back, so she didn't need someone new to distract her. She'd find the right person in time.

With that realization, life got better. She was able to spend more time with her best friend and dedicated herself to getting Maya’s grades up, even if she occasionally felt like a third wheel when Trish joined them. Lucas got over his weirdness, and they were friends again. Farkle stayed Farkle, which was perfect, because Riley wouldn't have him any other way. 

Yes, the last few months of school were pretty much perfect. Which meant absolutely no one should have been surprised when disaster struck at the beginning of summer.

0oOo0 

Maya was curled up in the bay window when Riley walked into her room after dinner. Her knees were drawn up to her chin, her face was red and splotchy, and Riley could see where the tears had been running down Maya’s face.

She could see where they were still running down her face.

“Oh, peaches,” Riley whispered sadly. She didn't know what had happened, but something was obviously wrong. She tiptoed over and slid in next to Maya. Riley wrapped her arms around Maya’s shoulders and waited. 

It was fifteen minutes before Maya said anything. When she did, she sounded weak, defeated, broken. Riley thought it was the worst sound in the world, and she never wanted to hear it again.

“Trish broke up with me.”

Riley was afraid it was something like that, and said so as she rubbed Maya’s back, no spider fingers involved.

“I really liked her, you know?” Maya croaked. “And then she just…”

“I know, peaches.”

“She left. Why does everyone want to leave me?”

“Not everybody does. I don't want to leave you. Lucas doesn't either, and you know Farkle’s not going anywhere. Your mom, your grandma, my parents, Uncle Shaun, they all love you.”

“So if I’m so great, why did Trish leave?”

Riley shook her head. “I don't know what to tell you. Maybe she's just stupid.”

“She’s a bitch,” Maya muttered.

“You shouldn’t say that,” Riley protested half-heartedly.

“She’s going away to an art collective for the summer and said she didn’t want to be tied down.”

“Okay, I guess you can call her that.”

“But I still miss her.”

“I know. It wouldn’t hurt if you didn’t care.”

0oOo0

Maya stayed over for the whole first week of summer vacation, and only went home because Katy dragged her out of the apartment in person. Riley did everything she could to make Maya feel better, and after a few days of hardcore wallowing in misery, the Maya that Riley wanted to see started to make a return appearance.

Farkle came over to voice his support, and mentioned that he never thought Trish was going to be The One for Maya, but that just set her off and Maya chased him away before he could expand his thoughts on the matter. Lucas came by, decked out in his cowboy finest. He confided in Riley that if making fun of him was what it took to cheer Maya up, that was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

Maya seemed almost back to normal after a month, but Riley couldn’t help but notice she was acting a little strange whenever they were alone together. It wasn’t lingering feelings for Trish, Riley was sure, not after Maya’s voicemails had been met with a “Stop calling me” text. Riley couldn’t figure out what it was.

As sticky July faded into sweltering August, Riley’s mom made good on her promise of a family vacation to the beach. A vacation that included Maya, because Riley wasn’t going to leave her behind even for a week, and because her mom and dad figured that would happen, and planned accordingly.

The trip was awesome. Her mom was able to pull some strings at her law firm, and managed to organize their stay in a fantastic suite. Riley had to double up with Maya, but she didn’t have to share a room with Auggie or her parents, either. And when they weren’t in their room, Riley and Maya were down on the beach. Riley dragged Maya out into the water more than once, but Maya preferred lounging on the beach. Maya filled the pages of her sketchbook, and Riley made up stories for the other people on the sand. It was just like subway people watching, except everyone was dressed for sun and fun instead of rain and skyscrapers.

They both had to admit that all the people in swimsuits made their chosen activities better. Even if it meant Maya wouldn’t show Riley all her drawings, and Riley wouldn’t tell Maya all her made up stories.

They stayed out on the beach until the sun disappeared and Riley’s parents called them back inside, which usually gave them just enough time to take a shower and wash the sand off before they collapsed into bed, exhausted. Then they slept for ten hours, woke up, and did it all again the next day.

It was a good routine, at least until the second to last day of vacation.

0oOo0

“Riley…”

Riley slowly drifted back into consciousness.

“Riley…”

She recognized Maya’s voice calling her name.

“Yeah, peaches?”

“Oh, Riley…”

That was definitely Maya, but it didn’t sound like she normally did. Riley forced her eyes open. “Peaches, you okay?”

“Mmmmm.”

Maya was slowly writhing under her thin sheet. Her face was flushed and she was panting slightly. 

“Peaches?”

“Oh, yessss!”

It finally clicked. Riley blushed red all the way down to her toes and her hand shot out to shake Maya’s shoulder. “Maya, wake up!”

“Riley!” Maya cried as her eyes snapped open. She glanced around before freezing when she caught Riley’s gaze.

“I, uh, I heard you calling my name,” Riley stammered. Maya’s eyes widened in fear. “I think you were dreaming.”

Maya nodded slowly.

“Do you remember what you were dreaming about?” she asked after a moment.

Maya shrugged hesitantly. 

“Was it at least a good dream?”

Maya paused again before nodding.

A warm feeling spread through Riley’s chest. “That’s good. Go back to sleep, peaches.”

Riley closed her eyes, and just before sleep took her, she felt Maya curl gently around her side.

0oOo0 

Riley woke up the next morning with Maya’s head resting on her chest, snoring softly. Her hand was bunched up in Riley’s shirt, and one leg was thrown over her knee.

She thought about waking Maya up, but she just looked too peaceful. After a while, though, her bladder got the best of her.

Riley pecked Maya’s forehead, and she blinked her way awake. It took her a second to realize where she was, then she almost fell out of the bed scrambling away from Riley like she was on fire.

Riley excused herself to the bathroom, and by the time she got back, Maya had already dressed and headed out to the main room for breakfast. When Riley headed out to join everybody else, Maya turned red, shoveled a few more spoonfuls in her mouth, and fled to the balcony, supposedly to watch the people on the street.

The rest of the day followed in the same vein. It was a little funny at first, but then Riley started to feel offended. Maya wasn’t supposed to be afraid of her. Blushing was understandable, because it probably was a little embarrassing, but Riley couldn’t stand the idea that Maya was trying to run away from her. She would have to fix the situation.

That decision brought up the question of how. She couldn’t just tell Maya that it was okay, and hope she got over it. Whenever she tried to even remotely suggest a topic that might someday be tangentially related to what she saw the night before, Maya shut down. She could try texting Maya an explanation, but when she tried, Riley ended up with a draft of a text message approaching the length of War and Peace. She resolved to figure out how to cut down on rambling in her texts just as soon as she figured out how to fix the Maya problem.

In a perfect world, Riley would have fixed the situation before they went back to New York, but in a perfect world she wouldn't have spent so much of the previous year without a best friend. So the car ride back was spent as the most awkward one in the history of awkward car rides.

Unfortunately, being back in New York meant that when Maya wanted to avoid her, she had places to hide.

Farkle claimed he was Switzerland when she tried to employ his help. Politically neutral, and a great place to store money. He swore he wasn't hiding Maya from Riley, but said he couldn't help her either. Sometimes his whole ‘love them both equally’ thing was infuriating. 

Lucas was even less helpful. Maya had gotten to him first, and he was running interference for her. He felt bad about it, but he'd made a promise to help Maya, and no amount of begging was going to get him to go back on his word.

Riley was ready to give up and camp out on Maya’s fire escape until she finally talked to her, but then Farkle announced he was throwing a back to school party on the last Friday before they went back. That was where she'd fix it, Riley decided. There was no way Maya would disappoint Farkle by skipping out, and Riley would finally make everything right again.

0oOo0

Riley was never going to make things right with Maya. Not at Farkle’s party, anyways. His father insisted on hosting it at one of his largest buildings, and it seemed like everybody at school showed up. The guests had spread out over several floors, and Riley had no idea where to start. She’d checked the dance floor, then the second dance floor, then the room where everybody was listening to music by nobody was dancing. She found Lucas in the last one, but no sign of Maya.

Then she checked all the refreshment tables, because if there was one thing Maya would never do, it was turn down free food. Instead, Riley found Zay, which wasn’t a surprise, and he told her that she just missed Maya by a few minutes.

She grabbed a glass of punch and set out after Maya. Yogi directed her down the hall, and Sarah pointed out the room she saw Maya duck into. Riley took a deep breath and readied herself. This was it. She wasn’t going to let Maya disappear on her this time. She finished her drink and threw the door open with a confident push.

And promptly fell in the floor.

“Riley!” Looked like Sarah was right about where Maya was hiding, because that was definitely her voice.

“I’m okay!” Riley cried a little too loudly, but her head was spinning as she pushed herself off the floor.

“Jeez, what’d you do, drink the punch?” Maya asked after she maneuvered Riley into a seated position.

Riley frowned. “Of course I did. It’s a party, punch is what you’re supposed to drink.”

Maya rolled her eyes and groaned. “Not this punch, pumpkin. It’s full of booze. Farkle’s been replacing it all night, but the seniors are spiking it just as fast.”

“So that’s why it tasted so funny,” Riley realized. “I just thought Farkle’s mom made terrible punch.” A bolt of lightning struck her brain. “Wait, does this mean I’m drunk? My parents are going to be so mad at me, I’ve got to call them to come pick me up…” Riley started digging for her cell phone.

Maya grabbed her hands to stop her. “Honey, stop. You don’t need to call your parents. How much punch did you have?”

“Just the one glass.”

“Then you’re going to stay right here and drink some water and you’re going to be fine. It’s not like you had enough to give you more than a little buzz, and you definitely didn’t do it on purpose. You’ll be fine in an hour or two. Your parents’ll never even have to know.”

“They’ll know.”

Maya nodded. “Yeah, they probably will. And if they don’t, I figure you’ll break down and tell them over breakfast anyways.”

“Yeah, probably.”

“That’s my pumpkin. Now stay right here, I’ll get you some water.”

“No!” Riley lunged for Maya as she stood up and ended up grabbing her foot. “You don’t get to leave!”

Maya looked uneasy. “I’m really just going to get you some water.”

“Text someone and tell them to bring us water. I’ve been trying to talk to you for weeks, and I’m not going to let you go now that I have you in my clutches.” Riley repositioned her arms to secure her hold on Maya’s leg. “My literal clutches, Maya!”

Maya wobbled on her high heels. “Alright, fine, I’m not going anywhere.”

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Yes, you have. If you weren’t avoiding me, we would have talked this out weeks ago, and you would have been there to protect me from the evil punch.”

“I haven’t been avoiding you, pumpkin, I’ve just been busy.”

“Busy avoiding me.”

“I don’t want to argue with you about this.”

“I don’t want to argue with you about anything!”

“Then why are you shouting?”

“Because people shout when they care about things! And because I’m apparently a lightweight!”

Maya patted Riley on the head. “Aww, my little lush. Alright, hypothetically, why have I been avoiding you?”

“Because I heard you having a sexy dream about me, and you’re embarrassed.” That was not at all how Riley planned to broach the topic, but it was out there now.

“Okay, why I don’t I go see about that water?” Maya tried to take a step, but Riley held fast.

“Oh, no you don’t. You don’t have to be embarrassed, Maya.”

“I’m pretty sure I do.” Maya jerked her foot again, but Riley didn’t budge.

“You really don’t! I have dreams about us too, peaches. I mean, normally we’re pirates or ninjas or space people or space pirate ninjas, but sometimes they’re sexy dreams.” Riley blushed. “Maybe more than sometimes.” Her voice dropped. “Sometimes they’re both.”

Maya froze. “Riley, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that you have sexy dreams about me, and I have sexy dreams about you, so there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Except we should probably never talk about it in public, because that would be kinda embarrassing.”

“And clinging to my leg is?”

“An effective tactic for detaining an embarrassed Maya.”

Maya tried another experimental leg twitch. “Hard to argue with that one.”

“So are you going to stop being weird? Because I’m tired of not being able to talk to you, or hang out with you, or just sit next to you and hold your hand.”

Maya sighed. “Fine, I’ll stop avoiding you.”

“YES! I’m so happy right now, you have no idea how much I want to kiss you.”

“You want to what now?”

“Did I say that out loud?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Shoot!” Riley cursed with a wince. “Well, I wasn’t planning on making this awkward so soon after saying we were going to stop being weird, but I guess that’s out the window.”

“So you do want to kiss me right now?”

“So much, you have no idea.” Riley slowly released her grip on Maya’s leg. If she was going to run again, Riley wouldn’t stop her.

Instead, Maya slid down so she was sitting next to Riley. “I think I might have some idea.”

“Oh yeah? And how’s that?”

“I really want to kiss you too.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Riley lunged for Maya, lip first.

0oOo0

Riley was on top of the world. School was back in session, and it was already better than ever. Her work with Maya last year had paid off, because now they were in the same honors classes. They didn’t have the same electives, but she could deal with that little bit of separation. She loved all their teachers, even if her dad replaced Mr. Duboit after he won the lottery and quit teaching.

But the best thing was definitely that she and Maya were officially dating after their conversation at Farkle’s party. All their friends were supportive, even Lucas and Zay, who she was worried would be awkward about it.

Tenth grade was going to be awesome.


End file.
